Donovan Haffner [DONOVAN HAFFNER]

HOT young sax player Donovan Haffner was a recent guest on Soweto Kinch’s excellent Round Midnight jazz show (Radio 3 and iPlayer) in the slot called 4×4. This is where the invitee gets to select a quartet of records from their collection that has influenced them. Haffner chose Empirical (featuring alto player Nathaniel Facey), Cannonball Adderley, Kenny Garrett and Gene Ammons. Three out of four alto players then, which is hardly surprising as the London-based Haffner is really making waves on the instrument.

As Soweto said: “He has such a unique tone and way of weaving narratives when he plays” and praised his “sincerity and gravity.” Soweto being no slouch on alto himself, you have to take him seriously. Haffner, who is an alumnus of the mighty Tomorrow’s Warrior’s programme, went on tour with drummer Moses Boyd at 18 and has since become a regular on the London scene, playing at all the usual suspects, as well as Love Supreme, We Out Here and Glastonbury festivals.

He recently released his first album, Alleviate, which features a very tight and sympatico band of young guns who match the leader’s muscular musicality. Listen to the atmospheric intro to the opening track (The Writer) track played by pianist Jay Verma before guitarist Francisco Garcia de Paredes delicately picks up the threads. Drummer Harry Ling soon introduces some urgency before Haffner enters with a swaggering authority.

I particularly like the last two tracks, the twisty The Lone Wolf and the uplifting, exhilarating Step Aside where, between them, he touches base with many of his influences, from Bird through Cannonball all the way up to Immanuel Wilkins (although he never frightens the horses the way Wilkins can when he goes fully atonal improv – Haffner is always a highly melodic presence even when he goes fully “out”). Alleviate doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it gives it a damn good polish.

Violinist Matt Holborn plays Pizza Express Soho on July 15 [Ben Danzig]

You can hear Haffner and the band live at The Crypt at St Giles Church, Camberwell, on July 11 (www.jazzlive.co.uk/guide.html) and at Ronnie Scott’s – as part of ace pianist Nikki Yeoh’s late-night Nucleus sessions – on July 16 (www.ronniescotts.co.uk/find-a-show/nikki-yeoh-donovan-haffner). Check out further dates on www.donovanhaffner.co.uk/

I have seen pianist Jim Watson in many settings, including with Manu Katché, Kurt Elling and as an integral part of Guy Barker’s Big Band, and he never fails to impress with his thoughtful solos and sympathetic comping. I have never heard him play solo, which is about to be corrected as he is taking centre stage to promote his album Calling You Home (Jim Watson/ECN).

It’s an involving recording, balancing smart takes on traditional classics (Round Midnight, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered), a smattering of pop songs (Paul Simon’s Old Friends, The Band’s The Weight), with Jim’s own compositions, including the affecting title track, all delivered with panache, precision and passion. He’ll be doing it live over in Chelsea at the 606 club on July 8 (www.606club.co.uk/events/view/jim-watson-album-launch/).

Speaking of tradition, violinist Matt Holborn is paying homage to Stuff Smith at the Pizza Express Soho on July 15. If you don’t know Smith (1909-1967) he was, alongside Stephan Grappelli, one of the first jazz violinists, who in the course of a varied career played with Grappelli, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Nat King Cole, Ben Webster and even Sun Ra. He can be seen in the iconic 1958 photo, A Great Day in Harlem, a line-up of the finest jazz musicians of the time. The lightning-fingered and swinging Matt Holborn will be playing some of Stuff’s repertoire, as well as original music inspired by him – this is a contemporary take on the man’s legacy. Tickets: www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/matt-holborn-celebrating-stuff-smith – there’s an enjoyable album too, called For Stuff. https://mattholborn.bandcamp.com/album/for-stuff.

A couple of US heavyweights land at Camden’s Jazz Café later this month on July 24. Guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel is an evocative innovator whose work is always highly accessible as he roams beyond straight jazz into ambient and dub. He has played with Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Joe Henderson, Paul Motian and Gary Burton. His album Deep Song (2005) remains a favourite of mine.
He is paired with a slightly younger pianist Gerald Clayton, who has just released One & Twos, his third album for Blue Note. Clayton is nothing if not iconoclastic – the album is inspired by “turntablism” and is designed so that side A and side B can be played simultaneously and still work as a single, interlocked piece (although it works just fine as a regular record!). Fear not, beyond such experimentations and his dips into hip-hop, Clayton remains a great improvisor in the jazz tradition, impressionistic, expressive and engaging (a touchstone would be Robert Glasper). I’m really looking forward to the meeting of these minds. https://thejazzcafe.com/event/kurt-rosenwinkel-gerald-clayton/?

The Jazz Cafe has a “Ones to Watch” Future Jazz Showcase on July 31, which includes Bristol’s jazzy beatmasters Snazzback and jazz, hip-hop and electronica from Mad Keys. Tickets just a tenner (https://thejazzcafe.com/event/future-jazz-showcase-mad-keys-snazzback-more/?)

I saw Donovan Haffner’s Round Midnight nominee Nathaniel Facey from Empirical recently at a Jazz in Kentish Town gig at the Bull and Gate (https://jazzattheparakeet.com/ – July listings now up), as part of an enjoyably rumbustious ensemble led by pianist Rick Simpson. He is at Dalston’s The Vortex with drummer Shane Forbes (also of Empirical) on July 16 under the auspice of the De Beauvoir Jazz Festival (main programme July 11-12 https://www.debeauvoirjazzfestival.co.uk/). The pair will be tackling a record that didn’t just frighten the horses at the time, it stampeded them – John Coltrane’s Interstellar Space. Legend has it that drummer Rashied Ali turned up at Rudy van Gelder’s storied studio expecting a band. “Ain’t nobody coming?” he asked Coltrane. “No, it’s just you and me.” Ali was puzzled. “What are we playing? Is it fast? Is it slow?” Coltrane said: “Whatever you want it to be.” The record was dismissed by some as sounding like a “fire in a pet shop” but is now seen as an important element of the great tenor player’s quest for something spiritual and cosmic, beyond conventional notated music. It will be a fascinating evening, although jazz ingenues should probably start elsewhere. See: https://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/de-beauvoir-jazz-festival-coltranes-interstellar-space_830pm/

Pianist Gerald Clayton is at the Jazz Cafe on July 24 [©ogata]

The Vortex was a pioneer in taking jazz East and Hackney’s Church of Sound (aka St James the Great) and Stoke Newington’s Total Refreshment Centre were among the first venues over there to celebrate the current wave of nu-jazz. TRC no longer puts on many live gigs (although it does great listening parties) but CoS is still going strong. Coming up is the fabulously innovative trumpeter Byron Wallen exploring The Andrew Hill Songbook on July 17. Wallen played with the adventurous pianist/composer Hill in the latter’s later years, before his death in 2007, and is well positioned both technically and temperamentally to bring Hill’s striking compositions to a new audience. The next night (18th) is an under-the-radar gig for the splendid Kokoroko, here to launch their new Brownswood album Tuff Times Never Last. Let’s hope that’s a prophetic title. What I’ve heard suggests the band’s winning mix of Afrobeat, Highlife and London jazz is in rude health. Tickets are on dice.fm (with Kokoroko listed as “secret headliner”).

Talking of Ronnie’s, another of its stalwarts, pianist James Pearson, who is also the club’s artistic director, is also heading east, to Soul Mama in Stratford on July 10. This is a new (-ish) hotel-based venue run by that diamond of a sax player YoLanda Brown and features an eclectic programme, covering reggae, world, soul, R&B and jazz with a side order of Caribbean food. James (who has been championing the under-appreciated keyboard talents of Dudley Moore in recent years) is paired with singer-songwriter and peerless interpreter of Joni Mitchell and Bowie, Ian Shaw. Well worth catching the Mildmay line for these two separately, let alone together. Details: https://www.universe.com/events/ian-shaw-james-pearson-tickets-DMRVGY. Also at the same venue is the great vocalist and mistress of scat, Jazzmeia Horn, on July 12 (see https://www.soulmama.co.uk/whats-on for full listings).

Back in north London, a quick mention for the Kaleidoscope Festival at Alexandra Palace Park, which takes place on July 20. Not strictly jazz, but I had a great time last year – it’s local, well organised, covers lots of bases (there’s a comedy and kids’ programmes as well as music stages), comes with a great view over London, and you don’t have to camp. I particularly enjoyed “Geordie jazz” outfit Knats in 2024 and this year’s line-up features Goldie, who recently took his trademark drum and bass to Ronnie Scott’s and blew the roof off. Let’s hope he brings along powerhouse vocalist and staple of the club, the great Natalie Williams, who joined him on stage in Soho. Tickets and full line-up: https://kaleidoscope-festival.com/